http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/03/katy_perry_s_teenage_dream_explaining_the_hit_using_music_theory.html
great read
Cool article
wut
It's great to read it!
Fascinating! I loved how he described the song as having a sense of suspension
Great read. I usually don't dig this kind of articles because they overanalyse a bunch of crazy stuff, but the tension and release syncopation part was spot on. Definitely learned something.
Quote from: Adam B on April 01, 2014, 12:18:06 AM
Don't really like this song but I find the idea of not using the tonic chord interesting. 8)
Tho it doesn't really say that much, I-V-vi-IV is still the most common progression and that shows that it's more to having hits than creating "suspension"..
Is not in the key of G after all... so I dont know if that still aplies. Could someone clarify? thanks
Quote from: Adam B on April 01, 2014, 03:33:24 AM
Ok, maybe Em then? Would make more sense.. I'm pretty much tone deaf so I can't tell..
I don't feel this song "works" anyway. The suspension comes from waiting for the song to go BOOM.. but it never does sadly, this song would benifit from a big full on chorus, as it is now it never really climaxes -the production is way too minimalistic.
Is this acapella out? Would be fun to play around with it..
I get what you're saying, but to me, the melody is so strong in every aspect, I feel that it still provides the pay off that is needed. I think that making a big chorus with a different chord sequence or even, just adding a chord would've probably mess up the whole nostalgic vibe achieved. Like you said, the making of a good song isn't necessarily dependant on the Tension/Release theory.
I felt the same way about "Hold it against me" by Britney.
Quote from: Adam B on April 01, 2014, 07:14:52 AM
Well, Katy Perry has that voice that can carry a song that's almost not a song.. Would it work with another vocalist? In some sense I think we're more listening to her voice than the song itself. She's got so much emotion in her voice.
Found this on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7MPwGgJfvU
Listen to the verses -they are way too high for her, she's really forcing it there's nothing left, sounds almost like whispering. As she does in many songs, and that's why she sounds so crap live.
Many think she can't sing at all, I'm no one them -I think she's an excellent singer, unfortunately she's trying to recreate her recordings live. I think she should take her tracks down a notch for the live performances..
I don't think the main issue of the verses is that they're too high for her, but I think it's how she struggles when she constantly changes registers. Great singers can do it smoothly, and she's not a great singer I would say.
I think the main issue with her live performances is that she does choreography while singing. She's not good at doing both at the same, there are only very few artists who have that skill. But when she sits down and sings it, she's fine.
I agree with you both.
It's about the dynamics of the vocals as well: it's hard as engineer to go with the vocal flow of the singer if you don't know exactly how to do it.
It's not an easy song to sing just because of that: the dinamics. She's going back and forth in head voice -or falsetto in the case of male singer, such a breathy voice- and then full head voice. Then chest voice in the choruses and middle 8.
Everything voice with different volumes... I don't think she's a great singer -she doesn't do acrobatics, doesn't control the melismatic technique, she runs out of breath very often and she's not always in perfect pitch- but to me, a great singer is not only about that: she's a singer/songwriter as well and I'm really convinced about what she sings and her commitment to her songwriting, I believe every word she sings.
Quote from: j.fco.morales on April 01, 2014, 05:33:41 PM
I agree with you both.
It's about the dynamics of the vocals as well: it's hard as engineer to go with the vocal flow of the singer if you don't know exactly how to do it.
It's not an easy song to sing just because of that: the dinamics. She's going back and forth in head voice -or falsetto in the case of male singer, such a breathy voice- and then full head voice. Then chest voice in the choruses and middle 8.
Everything voice with different volumes... I don't think she's a great singer -she doesn't do acrobatics, doesn't control the melismatic technique, she runs out of breath very often and she's not always in perfect pitch- but to me, a great singer is not only about that: she's a singer/songwriter as well and I'm really convinced about what she sings and her commitment to her songwriting, I believe every word she sings.
Bingo, nailed it. She's a good interpreter.
Quote from: J_A24 on April 01, 2014, 07:40:36 PM
Bingo, nailed it. She's a good interpreter.
And you can't learn that in any school.
Well, maybe a bit... but that's the thing with singer/songwriters even if they have pop appeal.
Definitly the tessitura helps, but that melody is just out of this world. It dosn;t need to go balls deep with the instrumental.